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December 31, 2015

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Kompany likely out for month

MANCHESTER City is looking at another month without captain Vincent Kompany after the defender suffered a second degree tear in his calf during Saturday’s 4-1 Premier League win over Sunderland, manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed.

Tuesday’s goalless draw against second place Leicester was City’s first clean sheet in the league this season without its Belgian captain. The result also meant City finished the year in third.

Kompany has missed more than half of City’s league games this season, playing in nine out of the 19, and hobbled off within 10 minutes of appearing as a second half substitute against Sunderland.

He had not played a game since the trip to Aston Villa in early November in what was City’s last clean sheet.

“Vincent has an injury, second degree on his calf so we’ll see how many weeks he will be out,” Pellegrini said. “I do not think it will be less than three-four weeks. I am not a doctor, but with a muscle injury, it will be very difficult for him to be back in less than four weeks.

“But without him, we must continue to defend as did tonight. We did more than Leicester to win the game.”

City begins 2016 with games against eight place Watford in the league, followed by trips to Everton for a League Cup match and to Norwich in the FA Cup — all within a week.

Leicester will end 2015 with a share of the Premier League lead after entering the year at the bottom of the table. It is just one point away from manager Claudio Ranieri’s initial target of 40 points with its supporters beginning to dream of a genuine title challenge.

The Italian said: “What we are doing is unbelievable. The first half of the season is magnificent and I don’t have words to say how happy I am. The Premier League this season is strange. The bigger teams should be able to stay away from us but we are there and we would love to stay there.

“I know it’s not our position but we will fight for it. We’re the basement and the other teams are a villa with a swimming pool. It’s not easy for us but we want to fight with everybody. It’s a miracle what we’re doing. I’d love this to continue but it’s not easy. I can only say well done to our players and our fans are unbelievable, they support us and they push us.”


 

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